


Indomitable

by zetsubonna



Series: On Va Voir [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), X-Men (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Mutant Powers, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 20:22:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2123430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zetsubonna/pseuds/zetsubonna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anonymous said:<br/>Hi, it's Reach again, um you want to hear me blather on about something you have no interest in? Here's an idea that just popped into my head; what if the serum worked on Steve as well as it did because Steve is a mutant? I don't know if you have any interest in x-men or mutants at all, it just popped into my head. I don't even know what his mutation would be. Um, hope you feel better?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Indomitable

"I don’t think-" Steve began to speak, but the visitor reached up and touched his elbow and shook his head no, and Steve, uncertain why, fell silent.

"Who are you?" he asked, finally, when they were in the conference room alone.

"Call me Charles," the old man said in a soft, melodious British accent that made Steve smile faintly without thinking about it much. "You think very loudly, Captain Rogers."

"Oh, right," Steve said, dropping his eyes to the side. "You’re the telepath."

"Yes," Charles confirmed. "And you aren’t exactly as you seem, are you?"

"I don’t follow." Steve let himself smile again. He wasn’t crazy about the idea of someone just scooping thoughts out of his head without his permission, but Charles wasn’t bringing up anything awkward, not yet.

"I thought, at first, that you stuck out to me because of your abilities, or because of the song you’ve had running through your mind since you walked in the door-"

Steve flushed. “I’m sorry, my fella is a huge Peggy Lee fan, he keeps playing that song to make my best friend laugh. He doesn’t laugh much, so-“

"Don’t worry. I’m a schoolmaster, I’ve heard worse."

Steve laughed into his collar.

Charles let his smile soften until it melted, and then checked the cameras in the room before speaking downward, looking at his hands. “I wanted to tell you something. It may not matter now, but I think you should know it anyway. Are you willing to listen?”

"Of course," Steve said, furrowing his brows and following his gaze.

"The serum altered your body, yes, but it also reacted with things that were already within you. Not only your spirit, although I’m sure that played a pivotal role. You were already different, Captain Rogers. I believe you were one of us."

"You think I was a mutant?" Steve rubbed his fingers across his mouth as he said it. "How could I have been-"

"There were already mutants in your generation," Charles assured him. "Mutants have been around for quite some time. It becomes increasingly necessary for us to be public and visible, for our own protection, but we have long been here."

"I don’t think I’m the right guy," Steve said, shaking his head. "I mean, I was sick literally all the time. From birth, the prognosis was always close, never more than five years. I don’t-"

"Will to live," Charles interrupted softly. "Will to  _survive_ , perhaps, but something along those lines. You keep finding reasons to continue. It’s not a healing factor, it’s not heath- the serum provided the means- but the indomitable will, that was already part of you.”

"I don’t think so," Steve said after a moment with his eyes closed. "I can think of at least two instances when I accepted my own death."

"Did you really?" Charles asked, smiling up at him, his brows arching over his crinkled blue eyes. "Or did you just run out of ideas and fall back upon your faith?"

Steve frowned, looking away again, looking through the conference table.

"Consider it, Captain Rogers," Charles murmured. "And keep it in mind, the next time you decide to attempt a drowning, yes?"


End file.
